Archive for category: Technology

Information and stories about technology news.

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CNNMoney’s Upstart 30 Project

upstart
CNNMoney launched its Upstart 30 Project in late June. It profiles 30 young innovative startups and their respective founding entrepreneurs and investors.

The list is broken down into five categories: the idealists, the funders, the simplifiers, the playmakers and the futurists. All of which comprise individuals from a variety of fields.

To take part, startups must be established in the United States, be no younger than five-years-old, and harness technology in hopes of making the world a better place. After a series of tests, the Upstart 30 Project was formed. The list is diverse in geography, gender, race, and industries.

Whether it is a solution to the current archaic U.S. school system, an agricultural phenomenon in a box, or an ingenious medical tool, Upstart 30 spotlights visionaries that are making serious headway, all before the age of 40.

While many of the startups tackle commonplace inefficiencies, several address national and global issues, and have the potential of reducing global poverty in unlikely ways.

BioBots brings personalized medicine tools. According to its profile on CNNMoney, the startup’s first product was a 3D printer for building cells, tissues and organs. BioBots’ printer is uniquely small and inexpensive. It can fit on a desktop and is priced at around $5,000. For now, the bio printer is for research. CEO Danny Cabrera, 22, said that his two co-founders and him are hoping to broaden their client base to include pharmaceutical companies who could use their products for testing cancer drugs. BioBots has a bright future in the United States, but could do wonders internationally.

Freight Farms is a farm in a box. Founders, Brad McNamara and Jonathan Freidman, created the boxes out of old shipping containers. The insulated, camera-equipped devices use LED lights and advanced monitors to regulate weather conditions, nutrient intake and carbon dioxide levels, all without soil. The startup launched in 2011, and already made $5 million. At $76,000 apiece, restaurants, schools, and hotels have mainly bought the boxes. While this is very expensive, the payoffs are incredible: each container produces 4,000 to 6,000 plants a week according to Shawn Cooney, a small business owner testing the Freight Farm. This is nearly 80 times more than Cooney would have gotten from a conventional farm space. The high cost keeps Freight Farms away from the developing world but, if ever brought down, Freight Farms could increase food security around the world.

uBiome scans a person’s body and micro biome. uBiome kits locate where diseases take root, and how they escalate. According to CNNMoney, uBiome completely changes the ways we examine anxiety, diabetes and heart disease. The $79 kits test bacteria, analyze results, and compare data to other profiles. This quick and cutting-edge device could easily help millions of people in developing nations.

Plangrid is a paper-saving blueprint alternative for construction engineers. By using a tablet to alter and share blueprints, Tracy
Young, Ryan Sutton-Gee, Ralph Gootee and Kenny Stone are making sure buildings are drawn from reliable sources. So far, Plangrid has been a success since it began only three years ago. The app helped build over 90,000 projects worldwide. Plangrid, however, has a long way to go until it can reach rural populations most in need of new buildings.

– Lin Sabones

Sources: PlanGrid, CNN
Photo: CNNMoney

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Clean Drinking Water in Kenya

Clean_Drinking_Water
Water and sanitation. Proper access to both is an issue that bedevils developing countries all over the world, and Kenya is no different. A new water-dispensing service is trying to change that.

Water has always been a huge issue in development work. Its importance is paramount to life itself – without water, humans cannot survive. While millions of people in the developing world do have access to water, oftentimes it is not safe for drinking. This causes diseases to spread and death to follow.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set out targets for clean drinking water. Goal 7, Target 7.C’s aim was to “halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.” This goal was met five years ahead of schedule – between 1990 and 2012, 2.3 billion more people gained access to safe drinking water. However, some have claimed that Target 7.C set the bar too low in terms of achievement.

A major issue connected to clean drinking water is access to proper sanitation for all. While the clean drinking water MDG has been met, sanitation has not done as well. One billion people still openly defecate all around the world, for lack of a better option. This then affects drinking water – it is a vicious cycle.

Part of the problem with supplying clean drinking water to the world’s population is that it is growing, making the task even harder. The population of Nairobi in 1963 was 300,000. Now, it is home to 4.2 million, and this figure is expected to grow to 14 million by 2050. If the world cannot supply its current population with clean drinking water, then how will it possibly keep up with the globe’s rapidly expanding populace?

The answer might begin with four new water dispensers that have been installed in Nairobi’s slums, which might help to change Kenya’s water infrastructure. They operate like vending machines – put money in, and water is dispensed out. This has reduced both the cost of water for slum residents as well as the distance needed to travel to acquire it. The water is purer and cleaner than other options – before the machines were installed, many residents got their water from sellers that dragged jerry cans on carts through the streets. Without water pipes in the slums, this was the only option.

The water-dispensing machines present a cheaper and cleaner option than the street vendors. It is a win-win situation for all involved – the government, who has put the machines in place, makes money on the water, and the citizens pay cheaper prices. Before, people would venture to neighborhoods with water pipes and break them to siphon off water, essentially stealing water from the government.

Now, prices are six times cheaper than they were before. Pre-dispensing machine, water prices hovered around three shillings, the equivalent of around three pennies in the U.S. Now, prices have been reduced to half a shilling. This might not seem like much, but to some that are unemployed or only make US$2 a day, the reduction is huge.

The payment system is done through mobile payments or water smart cards that residents can load money on. The machines are also operated by local residents who earn up to 40 percent of the profits from the machines as an incentive to keep them running and prevent vandalism. If Nairobi can continue to set an example for what these machines can do, they might go much further than a few slums in Kenya’s capitol.

– Gregory Baker

Sources: The Guardian, All Africa, UN
Photo: Stratfor

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Medical Microchips and Their Life-Saving Potential

medical_microchips
The ongoing Ebola epidemic in Western Africa has shown the dangers of late, or improper, diagnosis of disease. A late diagnosis can lead to a patient further spreading a pathogen and the wrong treatment usually does more harm than good. In developing countries and rural parts of the world, medical care is grossly underdeveloped, and as a consequence, diagnoses of illness are often inadequate. Millions die each year due to the fact that doctors cannot identify their ailment or treat it properly. However, with recent advances in microchip technology, diagnoses are becoming more accurate and timely for a cheaper price than ever before with medical microchips.

There are many different kinds of chips and devices being developed in both the public and private sectors. One such device is the “paper microchip” currently being tested at Florida Atlantic University. The chip is made of a polyester film that can detect pathogens in a blood sample.

An author of the university study, Waseem Asghar, said, “[t]here is a dire need for robust, portable, disposable and inexpensive bio-sensing platforms for clinical care, especially in developing countries with limited resources,” A large problem that doctors face in developing regions is the lack of laboratories and skilled testing personnel. With microchip technology, samples do not need to be sent to a lab, rather results can be generated instantly on the spot.

Microchips prove to be a major innovation in the medical world as they have the potential to take human error out of the equation. Computers do not need to go to medical school or study the exact signs and symptoms of any given disease. Researchers have tested the “paper microchip” for HIV and E. Coli diagnosis, but also state that the device could be used for many other infectious diseases. As the name suggests, microchips are small and thus portable. With increasing App and interconnected technology, they would require less training and knowledge to operate. Microchips have the potential to diagnose millions who were, in the past, untreatable due to their economic or geographical situations.

– Joe Kitaj

Sources: Wired, The New York Times, Wsnewspublishers
Photo: Wired

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Mobile App Keeps Fishermen Safe

fishermen_safe
More than 60 percent of India’s fishing communities, which comprise nearly four million people, earn less than a dollar a day. For each meager catch, they risk their lives sailing in flimsy boats through extreme weather conditions, only to return home to poor shelter, poverty, illiteracy and a lack of access to information.

Mobile technology organization Qualcomm is out to improve conditions with the Fisher Friend Mobile Application, which provides fishermen with real-time information about wind speed and wave height, weather conditions and disaster alerts up to 100 kilometers from shore. The Fisher Friend app also provides up-to-date market prices for fish, allowing fishermen to maximize their earning potential.

As of Feb. 2015, 1,000 people had been trained to use the app. Immediate benefits were seen; in one case, the Fisher Friend app’s GPS feature was used to locate and rescue 40 fishermen caught in rough weather conditions.

In addition, fishermen report that the Fisher Friend app helps to increase their haul. Subscribers receive a voice message bulletin in native regional languages five times a day, detailing, along with the other information, potential fishing zones where fishermen will bring in a larger catch.

Sanatan Behera, a fisherman at Chilika Lake in Odisha, India, said, “Two years ago, I used to catch only 50 kg of fish daily. Now, after I know the exact fish location through the voice message, I am able to catch almost double.”

The Fisher Friend app also warns fishermen when they approach Sri Lankan waters, allowing them to avoid being apprehended and potentially harmed for accidentally crossing the maritime border. The right of Indian fishermen to operate in Sri Lankan waters is still a highly contested issue between the two governments.

Fishing bans are another area the messages cover, informing fishermen of temporarily imposed bans placed by the government. Taking into account the impoverished nature of fishing communities, the app also covers information about government welfare programs.

All things considered, fishing communities face many challenges, ranging from cyclones and floods to illiteracy. These can place them in dangerous territory concerning governmental bans and allow fishermen to be taken advantage of with regards to fair market prices. However, Fisher Friend’s mobile app and the information it provides will help keep fishermen safe in India and empower them to draw a higher income from their hard work.

– Emma-Claire LaSaine

Sources: Huffington Post Impact, Economic Times, The New Indian Express, Qualcomm
Photo: The Telegraph

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LED and Solar Technology Reduces Poverty

LED
People living in poverty in developing countries without traditional power sources spend 100 to 1,000 times more per unit of light than the rest of the world using a variety of fuels such as kerosene and diesel. In return, the fuel-powered light sources put off more greenhouse-gas emissions than 30 million American cars.

Solar-LED lights carry low wattages and are downsized so that the product is affordable and easy to use. With more than 100 solar-LED options, at a cost between $10 and $75, people living in poverty can reduce their energy spending in one year by purchasing these products.

SolarAid, an international nonprofit, provides solar lights to rural areas around the world to help eradicate the growing costs of using kerosene lamps. There are 598 million people in Africa who do not have access to electricity. SolarAid has provided one million solar lights for those people.

In Africa, seven million households have purchased or obtained a solar-LED light since they went on the market with over 40 companies selling the products.

Coal is often a suggested answer to problems dealing with electricity in the developing world, but the World Bank suggests that coal is not a cure for global poverty. Coal prices burden the poorest countries in the world. Also, the health impacts of coal and climate change impose consequences on people living in developing countries.

The impact of solar-LED lights on families is substantial. The lights create clean and safe lighting, which reduces the risk of fires that fuel-powered lighting has.

On average, $70 is saved every year from reducing the amount of money spent on kerosene or candles. To most households, $70 is about 10 percent of their yearly income.

Families are noticing the health benefits of switching from fuel to solar-LED lights. About half of the families that switched to solar noticed their health is improving due to the reduced indoor pollution. Coughing, chest pains and eye irritations were more frequent and common before eliminating their fuel-powered lighting.

Annually, $230 million are being saved by families, 6 million people notice their health increasing, 890,000 tons of CO2 has been averted, and children have 2 billion extra hours to study and read.

Lighting is one of the most basic human rights and solar technology is one way to reduce poverty due to lighting. In return, the investment for Solar-LED lights increases health and children’s chances to learn and study.

– Donald Gering

Sources: Energy Matters, The Guardian 1, The Guardian 2, SolarAid
Photo: The Guardian

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Health-E-Net: Connecting Rural African Patients to Global Network of Medical Specialists

health-e-net

When a person is diagnosed with a serious illness, he or she must make a series of difficult medical decisions. What will I pay for? Where will I go? What type of treatment should I get?

In the United States, a patient receives multiple opinions on what he or she should do next; but in Africa, there is a shortage of specialist doctors, and patients rarely receive second opinions. The few specialty doctors in Africa are located in large metropolitan areas, hindering rural patients’ access.

Health-E-Net aims to fix this problem. The startup provides rural impoverished patients with affordable, high-quality second opinions so they can understand the complexities of their illnesses and make informed decisions about their futures.

The enterprise is based in Kenya. It relies on a global network of volunteer doctors, who analyze a patient’s data, and then give a second opinion.

“All patients have this desire to get the best possible treatment and it starts with a second opinion consultation. It gives patients information about their condition, about options available, and space to think and make the best decision. The demand for second opinion consultation is universal, and possibly even more in a developing country context,” said Dr. Pratap Kumar, founder and CEO of Health-E-Net, according to How We Made it in Africa.

Pratap Kumar was born in India and moved to Europe to study neuroscience and health economics. In Europe, many patients from back home continued to contact him with questions, looking for second opinions.

“It was very difficult to do this because one needs the patient’s history, the scans, the detailed blood work investigations… which is not easy to get access to when you are in a different country. A lot of doctors in the diaspora want to help patients back at home, but the networks don’t exist to harness these skills,” explained Kumar.

E-Health-Network began with Kumar’s desire to help patients back home in India. He realized that many other doctors in the diaspora, as well as retired doctors, also wanted to do something meaningful for the communities that they left behind without having to travel thousands of miles.

Health-E-Net costs only $30 and enables patients to have access to the world’s leading medical specialists.

Health-E-Net first assembles patients’ medical records. The company then shares these records with the relevant medical specialists and offers counseling and support services.

In rural areas, the majority of people cannot afford the $30 fee. Community clinics often subsidize the price, so in many cases, rural patients pay as little as $3.

Due to Kumar’s roots in India, he initially began Health-E-Net there. India has a larger population, but Kenya enables Kumar to be more adaptive and innovative.

“In India, you very quickly go into the numbers game. Even if your solution is not completely optimized you can scale across the country and make the numbers work for you. In Kenya and across Africa you really need a well-designed product and you must make it work for the low-cost market. The markets here won’t grow exponentially like in India or China, but your product has to be attuned to the challenges of the consumer, so innovation has to be at its best,” Kumar said.

Kumar hopes to expand Health-E-Net throughout the African continent, and eventually the world. “It works in Kenya, but it is also workable in India, Papua New Guinea or Ethiopia,” says Kumar. “Any place where there is inequality in access to healthcare, [and] where there are large populations that are rural, poor and don’t have access to the next level of care, Health-E-Net will be very useful to such settings.”

– Aaron Andree

Sources: Health-E-Net, How We Made It in Africa
Photo: How We Made It in Africa

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Phone App Brings Change to African Farmers

Farmerline
Africa has a large amount of untapped potential in the agricultural market. If resources were utilized correctly, it could feed itself as well as parts of other continents.

Today, Africa still relies on food imports from abroad to feed its rising population. The UN has warned that if African farming continues at its current rate, by 2050 the continent will only be fulfilling 13 percent of its food needs.

Farmers continuously fail to take advantage of the land’s natural advantages due to their lack of access to information on finance and marketing.

In Ghana, there is only one agricultural extension officer for 2,000 farmers. These officers provide farmers with training and information but are unable to communicate with each of them enough to help farmers improve due to a lack of time and resources.

Alloysius Attah, a 26-year-old Ghanaian entrepreneur, has invented an innovative solution to farmers’ lack of access to information that will increase yields and profits of local farmers.

In 2013, he founded the company Farmerline, a phone app that provides smallholder farmers with information in the form of voicemails and text messages.

“Farmers receive important updates on market prices, weather forecasts, financing, input dealers, and farming tips. It also links them to agribusinesses and organizations who have previously struggled to access them” explains How We Made it In Africa.

Farmerline has been successful— in only two years, it is helping 200,000 farmers across Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Nigeria. The company plans to expand across Eastern Africa at the end of 2015.

When Attah initially started his application, he discovered that many of the farmers are illiterate. They could not read text message notifications. “So we moved to voice messages. Now our application sends information to farmers in any language – such as Swahili or any of the local languages in Ghana,” said Attah to African business publication How we Made it in Africa.

The application is engineered specifically for individual farmers. Weather forecasts are reported based on the GPS coordinates of where a farmer’s farm is located. Agronomic this are based around the season of the year as well as the type of crop the farmer is growing.

Attah’s passion for agricultural improvement in Africa began when he was five. He lived with his aunt who was a small-scale, rural farmer in Ghana. He witnessed the problems she and so many others like her faced daily.

In college, Attah stumbled upon an agricultural class. “I actually thought the course was going to be about oil, gas and all that. But I soon realized it was about wildlife, forestry and agriculture. It is like fate somehow placed me in the path of agriculture” he told How We Made It in Africa.

“Coming from a normal rural Ghanaian background of limited resources, to becoming someone who can overcome challenges and use those limited resources to solve problems in society, makes my family and community proud,” said Attah.

The Organization has also received various international awards. Attah won the World Bank and InfoDev mAgri Challenge and World Summit Youth Award and was a 2014 Global Echoing Green Fellow.

– Margaret Anderson

Sources: Farmer Line, How We Made It In Africa
Photo: Techmoran

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How Technological Innovation Has Impacted Emergency Response Efforts

Emergency_Response_Efforts

We live in a technological age, aptly called the information age. One of the staples of the information age is the inclusion of technology into our daily lives. The majority of our lives are structured around the technological advancements we have accomplished, from where to how we communicate. While these advancements are significant in our everyday tasks, their great significance extends during times of crisis and emergency response efforts.

One of the most significant ways in which technology has revolutionized disaster relief is the ability to get information to those in need of aid. The greatest technological advancement that achieves this goal is mobile phones.

In a Q&A regarding the utilization of technology in fighting the Ebola outbreak, Eric King, an innovation specialist who worked on the USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team in Liberia during the Ebola outbreak had this to say: “A decade ago, a small percentage of West Africans had access to cellphones. Now, mobile phones allow us to connect those in need with those who can help. Families of the sick can call emergency Ebola hotlines, social mobilizers can share tips for community engagement, individuals can resolve Ebola rumors by texting local radio stations, health workers can be paid electronically, and clinics can flag when they’re low on supplies.”

Technological advancements are not limited to those in need of aid. Another prime instance of technological advancements revolutionizing emergency response efforts comes from the manner in which response efforts can mobilize.

There are numerous examples of advancements in communications technologies that have made the mobilization of relief efforts drastically faster and more efficient; during disaster events, speed and efficiency can literally save lives.

One such example comes from the relief efforts performed when Super-typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines in 2013. Due to weather tracking technology, the storm was seen well enough in advance to allow early warning to those areas that would be affected. Furthermore, due to this advanced warning, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) was able to reach out to the Digital Humanitarian Network (DHN) for assistance. The DHN volunteers utilized social media, as well as other online platforms, to help create a digital map of the aftereffects of Super-typhoon Haiyan. This map was then used to help coordinate relief efforts in the area.

More than just coordinating relief efforts, social media plays another vital role in aiding emergency response efforts, as does technological advancement in general. Technological advancements, particularly those centered on the Internet, allow information regarding disaster relief efforts to be spread much more rapidly to the public. This has numerous benefits, but the most significant is the capacity for organizations to gain public support and assistance during disasters. Many organizations that aid in disaster relief rely heavily on public support, particularly for volunteers.

With the advent of the Internet, these organizations can get more attention and recognition, which in turn garnishes a significant amount of support. These are but a few of the ways in which technological advancement has advanced emergency response efforts.

– James Miller

Sources: USAID, Time
Photo: EECU

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Wireless and Emergency Communications Tech in Disaster Relief

Wireless and Emergency Communications Tech in Disaster Relief
When disaster strikes, as it did in April 2015 in Nepal, there is an immediate need for life-saving aid; the distribution of food, water and shelter becomes paramount to relief efforts. However, in the 21st century, technology is becoming an increasingly necessary facet of day-to-day functionality. As the world’s rural regions develop and technology becomes cheaper and more efficient, the more people rely on that technology to function. Today, even in the world’s most remote and impoverished regions, things like Internet access and mobile phone service are just as important to survival and well-being.

In addition to providing life-sustaining resources, aid workers are now being called upon to provide things like Wi-Fi access and cellular support. The leading provider of emergency communications is the United Nation’s Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (ICT). Within 48 hours of a disaster, ICT deploys its Emergency Telecommunications Cluster, or ETC.

The ETC is a series of connected balloons that act like cell phone towers and routers that can be set up to provide wireless Internet and cellular service in disaster zones. These services enable survivors to contact family or other outside assistance, find routes out of the disaster zone, or transfer vital funds. Those providing assistance benefit from these services as well, for they can receive vital information from the survivors themselves on the exact situation on the ground.

Today’s digital world makes it nearly impossible to do any work without staying connected. By repairing or installing communication networks, aid workers help themselves as much as they help survivors. With Wi-Fi and cell service, workers can more effectively communicate and coordinate their efforts, and thus deliver crucial assistance quicker.

Wi-Fi is not the only advanced technology being utilized in disaster relief. Drones have recently been implemented to aid humanitarian missions. Drones can access remote areas quickly and survey locations with cameras, which would otherwise be dangerously inaccessible. In fact, the ongoing relief efforts in Nepal have seen the largest deployment of drones in the history of disaster relief. The devices are currently being used to survey the damage, search for signs of survivors, and help relief organizers further coordinate their efforts. Drones, when used in a humanitarian capacity, have the potential to produce a significant impact. Perhaps in the not-so-distant future, autonomous drones will be able to drop food, medicine and water far more quickly than actual aid workers.

– Joe Kitaj

Sources: ICT, ATISW, Direct Relief
Photo: ICT

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New Smartphone App Allows You to Share Your Leftovers

leftovers
Of the challenges of the 21st century, one of the largest in terms of magnitude and prevalence is food insecurity. The term food insecurity is used loosely to define inconsistent access to food, due to limitations of resources.

The issue is unfortunately highly prevalent in not only the developing world but in the United States as well. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 1 in 6 Americans faces food insecurity. This translates to roughly 50 million Americans in total.

These staggering numbers are indicative of what most of us are already quite familiar with: the issue of global hunger. However, the interpretation of its causes, and consequently the approach to its solutions, has been controversial. Many scientists, particularly biotechnologists, regard higher food production as the solution; and in many instances, it is effective.

As a result of agronomical developments, the world today is producing more food per inhabitant than ever before. However, the strides made in scientific innovation have not paralleled the alleviation of global hunger.

In fact, the implications of these discrepancies lie in the inequality of food distribution. For many people, food remains unavailable despite the copious amounts of food that go to waste each day. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, almost 35 million tons of food were wasted in the United States in 2013. Estimates by the National Resource Defense Council have estimated that 40% of all food produced in America is wasted.

To tackle the issue of wasted food, a Seattle-based startup has come up with a creative solution based on smartphone technology: Leftover Swap. Leftover Swap is a smartphone app that allows users to share their leftover food with others before it goes to waste. The users can snap a photo of their leftovers, and upload it on the app with a location tag. Anyone looking for food can then find all the shared food in their location. To make the app safer for users, it allows for instant messaging within the app where users can agree on a location to pick up food. The app also does not allow any user to charge for their leftover food.

The benefits and the range of applications for the app remain dubious: people who own smartphones are not necessarily the ones in dire need of free food provision. However, as smartphones become cheaper, it may be possible to reach marginalized populations. Moreover, it can be a way for food recovery networks to salvage more food that would have otherwise gone to a landfill.

Many people are also concerned about the degree of safety of food. The Health Department does not evaluate this food, as it is not technically being sold. In spite of the app’s continual reminders to only share food one would eat itself, the hygienic status of the food cannot be positively reaffirmed. The co-founder of the app, Dan Newman, contends that there is a certain degree of faith that needs to be put into this effort, as would be the case if one was being given food as a guest.

The app is to date the only app of its kind and faces some hurdles before it can reach the objectives of sustainability and food equality that it intends. However, it is a step in the right direction, and as interest in the app increases, it is more than likely that we will see improvements both from this app and potential competitors.

– Atifah Safi

Sources: Washington Post, NPR, , NRDC, Feeding America, USDA, Leftover Swap
Photo: Newsana